Misquoted Monday: Hannibal Lecter's Greeting Is Not What You Think It Is

One of the most wonderful things about film and TV is that they seep into our culture in ways that greatly affect our day-to-day lives. There are lines and pop culture references we hear all the time that would not exist without humans sitting down and putting their passions onto the page and then the silver screen.

When it comes to famous lines, there are always some misquotes out there, and that's why we are starting a series to identify them, so you have something to talk about at cocktail parties or as trivia for your friends.

Now, if you ask anyone to quote Dr. Hannibal Lecter’s first meeting with FBI trainee Clarice Starling in Jonathan Demme’s 1991 masterpiece The Silence of the Lambs, they'll probably drop a creepy "Hello, Clarice," on you.

But I'm here to tell you that's wrong.

Anthony Hopkins never utters those two words together anywhere in the film.

Let's dive in.

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What He Actually Says

I could wax on and on about how great The Silence of the Lambs is, from the impeccable script by Ted Tally to Jonathan Demme's close-ups; it's one of those movies I return to time and time again.

So it makes sense that in all that wonderful stuff you may get a line wrong here and there.

When Clarice (Jodie Foster) walks down the dimly lit corridor and finally arrives at Lecter’s cell, he is standing perfectly still in the center of the room, posture immaculate, waiting for her.

That's when she introduces herself as Clarice Starling from the FBI. Lecter looks at her credentials and actually says...

"Good morning."

That’s it.

From then on, Clarice chats, and after examining her credentials through the tray slot, he looks up and says, "Good morning" again, but this time he adds her name: "Good morning, Clarice."

At the VERY END of the movie, there's also a phone call between Lecter and Clarice. But even then, he greets her with "Well, Clarice..."

So we have a Mandela effect around the whole movie, where people misremember that "Hello."

What's so funny is people misquoted that movie for so long that when they finally made the sequel, they did include the misremembered line!

In Hannibal, director Ridley Scott and screenwriter Steven Zaillian have Lecter finally deliver the line "Hello, Clarice," when she meets him in Florence.

The Takeaway for Screenwriters and Directors

We all want to craft a memorable character entrance or iconic line, but sometimes what sticks out in our brains is the performance and not how amazing the words are or how crazy a person walks into a room.

Even then, we may not get them right.

The next time you write a villainous reveal, see if a simple line is what makes it so impactful, and then cast someone to deliver it with the force of Anthony Hopkins.

Easier said than done.